Hello my dear readers! Wait, break happened? Where did it go? Well, let’s try this … advice thing again.
Dear Sarah,
This semester, two of my close friends will not be attending Etown. How do you recommend that the friends and I who are left behind begin to rebuild our group after such a loss?
Lost Jay
Dear Lost Jay,
Dude that suuuuuuuuuuucks! I am sincerely sorry for your situation and hope that your friends have settled into their new whereabouts comfortably. Friends are just as treasured parts of our lives as any relationship might be, and can leave a void in our hearts and our minds should they leave. I’ve known friends who have left, temporarily or for the long haul, and it is never easy, particularly when their absence throws off the balance of a group. If the friend who brings the laugh is gone, how will anything seem funny again? If the friend was your back-up when times got cray, it seems hard to stand. It’s important not to try and rush a feeling of normalcy with your gang here, cause that can be a little awkward and forced-feeling, but it’s not good to mope and reminisce either, ya know? My best advice: get off campus and make some new memories! Maybe some sledding (weather permitting), go to a new restaurant, stay a ridiculous amount of time in the Marketplace — and keep doing that. You’ll have new experiences as a collective that will strengthen your bond and things to share when you talk to the buddies who can’t be around!
Dear Sarah,
Am I fat? I’m worried because my womanly curves are sometimes very curvy.
Sincerely,
Fat
Dear Fat?
Um … I don’t know? Like, for real, honey, you put a note in what is becoming a rather beat-up ask box. So I don’t know what is the exact circumference of your curves, should they be curvy. I don’t want to belittle you about how you feel about your body — they feel super real and super hard because it IS really, super hard to accept yourself with how all the [bleep] society and media slings every-which-way these days. And I feel you, I really do (seriously, high school Sarah was a self-conscious punk-rock mess squeezed into an awful Catholic school uniform). I don’t think I even know anyone, guys or dolls, who hasn’t felt down on some aspects of their appearance. But like … there is so much more to you, so much more to being a person. And it does take time to figure that out and to be okay with letting yourself feel that way. There’s so much crazy body-policing around, so I don’t want to tell you any “real women have curves” or to “work out to feel better” or anything, cause anyone telling you how to feel or not to feel is wack and it drives me insane. YOU tell you how to feel about your body, and that takes some reflection and whatnot. Just remember, you and all my lovely readers, it’s what’s inside that counts: bones and organs and junk.
I’m super excited to start another fun-filled semester of learning and adventure with y’all! Remember, submissions can be left in my Ask Box, conveniently located in the illustrious Mail Room, and my Twitter handle, @EtownianAdvice, is chock full of sound collegiate advice … but mostly sassy comments about stuff I see around campus, because really: making out in the marketplace?
That’s a thing?
